ReadySetMom

Looking for the perfect treat for a school birthday celebration

We've recently talked here about snacks at school and low-cost birthday party ideas.

I have a question related to both of these subjects: What special treats do you bring to school to celebrate your kids' birthdays?

Our school requires that only store-bought food be served. (Maybe all public schools have this policy against homemade goodies.) Treats must not contain nuts because some kids are allergic. Healthy snacks are encouraged.

That leaves us with ... birthday carrots!

Seriously, do you bring sugary frosted cupcakes to share on your kid's special day, because they're fun and traditional and maybe there will be one left over for mom? Or do you have a healthier, but still party-related, suggestion that's more exciting than a granola bar? What about non-food (non-junk) giveaways, like colorful pencils or little notebooks?

Four kids in my daughter's kindergarten class have birthdays this week, and they'll be celebrating them all on Friday. You can bet I'll be quizzing my 5-year-old on the treat selection.

Low cost birthday party venues or entertainment?

As many of you know from our Green Birthday platform on Enviromom, we're fans of simple birthday parties that generate little waste and are gift free. But we do want the birthday parties to be fun, and the idea of not having it at home is appealing (the cleaning, the planning, the potential chaos of a bunch of grade schoolers hopped up on a sugar high...). But, oh, the cost of birthday entertainers and destination parties! Magicians, puppeteers, gymnastics studios -- they all cost an awful lot. We dream of one of those lovely, low-key summer parties in a public park. Some home-made cupcakes, a big play structure, and voila! Kids are playing and having a blast. But that's just dreaming since Heather has a November birthday to contend with, and I have a January.

One friend summed it up nicely: either you pay in money (i.e., destination or entertainer) or you pay in time (planning, cleaning, creativity, etc.). Does anyone have any great low-cost birthday party ideas to share, especially for non-summer birthdays?

Looking for Father's Day gift ideas

As far as I'm concerned, my husband has already gotten his best Father's Day gift.

In a booklet she made at preschool, my daughter said her dad is 33 years old (she was only 15 years off) and that his favorite food is salad (ha!). Young and healthy is how our daughter sees her dad. Happy Father's Day indeed!

Seriously, I get really stumped when it comes to giving gifts to my husband. He's the kind of guy who doesn't need a lot of stuff, and if he needs something, he'll go ahead and buy it himself. (I'm more the think-it-over, put it on my wishlist kind of person.)

So, I'm looking for suggestions (and I'll make sure my husband doesn't read this.) What's the best gift you've ever given to your husband?

I am so not ready for high school

A neighbor who has two teenage daughters gave me a glimpse of what to expect during the high school years.

You remember prom night? Well, some things haven't changed. The girls put on their formal dresses. The young couples gather in hotel ballrooms. They dance, they mingle, they smile for the photographer.

Then they head to co-ed sleepovers.

You heard me right. Co-ed sleepovers.

My neighbor didn't allow her daughter to go to a co-ed sleepover, so I can't answer all of your questions. (Are they chaperoned? Where do they sleep? Do they wear pajamas?) One daughter went to an old-fashioned girls-only sleepover. The other was picked up at 11 pm because these parents actually enforce a curfew, apparently unlike most parents they know.

Here's something else that's different. Generally, boys still ask girls to the prom, but it isn't enough to just muster up the courage to approach and ask someone. The guys have to do it in a creative way -- or risk a big fat "no." According to my neighbor, if the invitation doesn't come floating down from the sky attached to a hot-air balloon, it's just not acceptable. Her daughter's date presented her with a humongous cookie with the invitation spelled out in frosting. I guess that was deemed acceptable.

I can just hear the gossip. "Did you hear about Amber? Justin like just walked up to her asked her to the prom! Can you believe that? What a dork!" (OK, I'd say dork. I have no idea what a kid today would say.)

Who knows what's in store for me when my kids get to high school?

Kudos to our school staff members

What's going on at your school for Staff Appreciation Week?

Thanks to parent volunteers in my neighborhood, the adults who take care of our kids at school will get specially ordered Starbucks coffee drinks delivered in class, gorgeous individually arranged bouquets of blooms brought in by students and a luncheon buffet to close out the week. Our principal will make his annual breakfast for the staff, and students can put notes and cards of appreciation in special folders all week long.

It's a great week of recognition for people who deserve it all year long. I cannot fathom managing a classroom of children five days of week (not to mention all of the out-of-classroom preparation).

A big thank you from me to all teachers out there!

Did you get fooled today?

My daughter's friend had a cast on her arm at ballet class today. Turns out it was a fake one, being worn to trick friends on April Fools Day!

Were you tricked today? Did you come across any great pranks you want to share?

Happy Easter!

Boing, boing, boing. That is the sound of my children bouncing off the walls after secretly ingesting ten pounds of jelly beans. "Where are all of the jelly beans?" "Well, we got hungry." "But you ate them all!" "Yes, we were very hungry." Must remember to 1) hide the jelly beans, and 2) feed the children.

Being a family without a church and any established Easter traditions, beyond the bunny baskets and mini egg-hunt in the living room, we are spending a lazy, rainy Sunday at home. My mom will come over this afternoon for a rousing game of Scrabble and a festive lasagna dinner. It's basically just another Sunday. I feel a little sad about this, remembering the Norman Rockwellian Easters of my youth -- wearing a crisp, new, ruffle-y dress to church services; the big ham mid-day dinner with relatives; watching the local TV station's annual broadcast of The Wizard of Oz; eating all of the Peeps in one sitting and promptly throwing them up. Good times. What memories will my kids have of Easter? The festive lasagna? Must work on that.

Have a lovely day with your family!

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day, the advent of spring and Easter

Get ready to get busy. March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, but also crams in three potential celebrations in a one-week period just around the corner:

St. Patrick's Day - March 17
I am not Irish, but often wish I was come St. Patrick's Day. Most of my St. Patrick's memories have more to do with green beer than anything I'd actually celebrate with my kids. Although we are religious about wearing some green on that day so we don't get pinched. Otherwise, this is a holiday we pretty much coast through. However, I did cut out a recipe for Irish soda bread the other day, that I'm thinking of trying. I'm on a mission to teach my kids that bread is supposed to be brown, and that doesn't mean it's yucky. We also were introduced to the "leprechaun ladder" when my older daughter was in preschool last year. Some of my friends loved it, some hated it. How about you? How does your family celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Advent of spring - March 20
Here again, we don't really do anything for that other than remark over the breakfast table, "Oh, gosh, hey. Winter's over. It's now spring." You can't help but stop and smell the daffodils, hyacinths, and all the other lovely flowers in bloom. This year we are still reeling from the morning grogginess caused by the earlier-than-usual "spring forward" of Daylight Savings' Time. Last year, one of our readers introduced us to the tradition of egg balancing in celebration of spring. How do you mark the advent of spring?

Easter - March 23
Last but not least, Easter. We were just talking about greening up the Easter Basket yesterday on EnviroMom. Our Easter is a fairly traditional American mix -- a healthy dose of church, complemented by some Easter Bunny mythology and a chocolate-bunny, jelly-bean fueled egg hunt or two, should the weather not be too frightful. We've slogged through egg hunts all over the Portland Metro area from the Wilsonville Egg Hunt, the Alpenrose Dairy Egg Hunt, to the Oregon Zoo Rabbit Romp. This year the Pearl District is hosting a bunny hop, that invites kids to follow a bunny trail hunting down eggs and stamps on Saturday, March 15. Other egg hunts will be Easter weekend (March 22-23). How do you celebrate Easter and do you have any favorite egg hunts?

So I guess our family really will put all our eggs in one basket as far as the upcoming celebrations go (sorry, couldn't resist that metaphor). Are you ready? How do you celebrate?